Will I Improve?

[tisting9]

I am about to start my hockey practice program. I am 14 and am playing U16 AAA hockey next year. Baseball season is just about over so here is my skills practice program.
Stickhandling Shooting
Figure 8s for 5 min 250 Wrist Shots
Golf Ball for 5 min 50 Slap Shots
Around the Body 5 min 50 Backhands
5 min on the Balance Board
5 min Kovy's Triangle Drill

Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

Click to read more...

 

[Granlund2Pulkkinen*]

I was skilled on my own but until you get thrown into a game you will not know how you do... I used to choke ALOT.

The best practice is being in a game.

 

[Redden Hogalot*]

If you take over 100 shots everyday your shot will definately improve. I was praticing my shot but then I got s.h.i.t. for hitting the garage door so then I went to the backyard and then got in s.h.i.t. for hitting the shed, so now I screw around in the driveway...

 

[PowerForward#10]

Any practice will help you improve, no matter what you do you will improve if you are working. The most underrated thing for training has to be long distance running, it builds s omuch muscle on your legs, when I stopped running I could feel myself being slower on the ice and less conditioned. Coaches love to see someone willing to pay the price to be better, so they would definitely be the ones to turn to.

 

[Backstrom #19]

The best way to get better is to play in games and get experence, cause practice does help but playing in games is the best way to improve.

 

[Boy Hedican]

Any practice will help you improve, no matter what you do you will improve if you are working. The most underrated thing for training has to be long distance running, it builds s omuch muscle on your legs, when I stopped running I could feel myself being slower on the ice and less conditioned. Coaches love to see someone willing to pay the price to be better, so they would definitely be the ones to turn to.

Interval training is better than long distant running. Running (for distance)might build your leg muscles, but it offsets your stamina and conditions your body to work at a medium potential for a long period of time; which is fine for long distance running. Hockey requires spurts of 100% potential, with resting periods in between. You train your body for this type of conditioning, and you'll have better stamina for HOCKEY. You will feel less fatigue and be able to play your best for 60 min without getting sloppy. No sense in improving your stick skills without having the ability to perform them properly for a full game. I highly recommend this.

You can find out more about interval training here

And yes, playing more will always help. But off ice training is just as important.

 

[Crosbyfan]

Any practice will help you improve, no matter what you do you will improve if you are working. The most underrated thing for training has to be long distance running, it builds s omuch muscle on your legs, when I stopped running I could feel myself being slower on the ice and less conditioned. Coaches love to see someone willing to pay the price to be better, so they would definitely be the ones to turn to.

Funny, because interval training is probably better, even for long distance running.

 

[PenguinmanAmato*]

There's far, far too little skating on that training regimen.

 

[PowerForward#10]

I didn't say long distance running was the best, I just wanted to mention that it really helped my game, and I dunno I never get bored doing it. I just want to say that it may not help you as much as interval training, but i can tell you that it will help you.

 

[Boy Hedican]

well there should be some endurance training in your workout, you should do about 70% interval and 30% endurance. You gotta have both.

 

[dwkdnvr]

I guess I'm going to be something of a contrarian in this post, but I'm guessing that I'm significantly older than most folks around here which might alter my perspective somewhat.

The best practice is being in a game.

I can't agree with this. Game play simply will never give you enough 'reps' to develop the raw physical skills to a high level. A good player might get 5 shots on goal in a game, compared to 50 or 100 in a good focused/dedicated practice session. Assuming you aren't just 'going through the motions', high reps are a very significant key to ingraining the physical skills so they become automatic.

Not to say that practice alone is sufficient - game play is where everything gets integrated into 'hockey' rather than a set of individual elements.

well there should be some endurance training in your workout, you should do about 70% interval and 30% endurance. You gotta have both.

A key to incorporating endurance with your interval training is identifying/understanding what you're trying to accomplish. In a nutshell, the aerobic training is aimed at improving your recovery between intervals, so that your HR is as low as possible when beginning the next sprint - obviously this is even more important for the later iterations. Wearing an HRM and recording your HR at the start and end of each rest interval will allow you to monitor the effectiveness. A run with 10 minute warm up/warm down and a 20 minute interval around your 10k pace is a good place to start.

Funny, because interval training is probably better, even for long distance running.

Well, this is just incorrect assuming you are referring to the type of high-intensity intervals useful for hockey, and your definition of 'long distance' is more than about 5k. 100% anaerobic sprints are useless for building endurance, and are of dubious value as a race tool unless you're truly elite. High-intensity intervals are hard on the recovery system, and hence cut into your abilty to do high mileage which is the single most critical aspect of a true endurance program.
It is the case though that all training incorporates 'intervals' in the broadest sense of varying intensity within a single session, as well as varying intensity across sessions. If this was the meaning of the quote, then I would agree.

 

[EmptyNetter]

Well, this is just incorrect assuming you are referring to the type of high-intensity intervals useful for hockey, and your definition of 'long distance' is more than about 5k. 100% anaerobic sprints are useless for building endurance, and are of dubious value as a race tool unless you're truly elite. High-intensity intervals are hard on the recovery system, and hence cut into your abilty to do high mileage which is the single most critical aspect of a true endurance program.
It is the case though that all training incorporates 'intervals' in the broadest sense of varying intensity within a single session, as well as varying intensity across sessions. If this was the meaning of the quote, then I would agree.

You're right that it's important to define your terms when referring to interval training. Here's a beginner-friendly routine http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml . No sprinting involved and the ultimate goal is working up to a 3 mile run.

 

[Crosbyfan]

I guess I'm going to be something of a contrarian in this post, but I'm guessing that I'm significantly older than most folks around here which might alter my perspective somewhat.



I can't agree with this. Game play simply will never give you enough 'reps' to develop the raw physical skills to a high level. A good player might get 5 shots on goal in a game, compared to 50 or 100 in a good focused/dedicated practice session. Assuming you aren't just 'going through the motions', high reps are a very significant key to ingraining the physical skills so they become automatic.

Not to say that practice alone is sufficient - game play is where everything gets integrated into 'hockey' rather than a set of individual elements.



A key to incorporating endurance with your interval training is identifying/understanding what you're trying to accomplish. In a nutshell, the aerobic training is aimed at improving your recovery between intervals, so that your HR is as low as possible when beginning the next sprint - obviously this is even more important for the later iterations. Wearing an HRM and recording your HR at the start and end of each rest interval will allow you to monitor the effectiveness. A run with 10 minute warm up/warm down and a 20 minute interval around your 10k pace is a good place to start.


Well, this is just incorrect assuming you are referring to the type of high-intensity intervals useful for hockey, and your definition of 'long distance' is more than about 5k. 100% anaerobic sprints are useless for building endurance, and are of dubious value as a race tool unless you're truly elite. High-intensity intervals are hard on the recovery system, and hence cut into your abilty to do high mileage which is the single most critical aspect of a true endurance program.
It is the case though that all training incorporates 'intervals' in the broadest sense of varying intensity within a single session, as well as varying intensity across sessions. If this was the meaning of the quote, then I would agree.

The bold is replying to my post. You somehow attributed it to someone else. My point was that long distance running was not the best for hockey. Some might help. A lot could actually hurt (be detrimental to power, not just overuse injuries etc.)

Steady rate training for distance will build a foundation for distance running but varying your pace in practice, or doing appropriate interval training, will get you further faster. High intensity (great for hockey) won't do the job for a quite a number number of reasons (I'm not an expert but I'm aware of the basics of some of them)

Of course if distance running means getting off the couch then it can only help. It's kind of nice that hockey is a fairly balanced sport for most of us at non elite levels.

 

[Granlund2Pulkkinen*]

I can't agree with this. Game play simply will never give you enough 'reps' to develop the raw physical skills to a high level. A good player might get 5 shots on goal in a game, compared to 50 or 100 in a good focused/dedicated practice session. Assuming you aren't just 'going through the motions', high reps are a very significant key to ingraining the physical skills so they become automatic.

I'm gonna go out on a branch and say Hockey is the second most mental game besides golf. Playmakers are in high demand. You have to have experience to be good. Did Gretzky score 200 points his first year? No... he had to improve through game play.

The best practice is game play. Period.
I never said that practicing out of games was bad but, it isn't as benificial as playing skrimages and other things. You can work out your strengths and weaknesses through game play so you know how you play in a game.

I saw a video of Kovalev hitting targets in a net from mid ice... does he play like that in real life? No he's a choker. You have to have game play to help you get accustomed to the game.

 

[Backstrom #19]

I'm gonna go out on a branch and say Hockey is the second most mental game besides golf. Playmakers are in high demand. You have to have experience to be good. Did Gretzky score 200 points his first year? No... he had to improve through game play.

The best practice is game play. Period.
I never said that practicing out of games was bad but, it isn't as benificial as playing skrimages and other things. You can work out your strengths and weaknesses through game play so you know how you play in a game.
I saw a video of Kovalev hitting targets in a net from mid ice... does he play like that in real life? No he's a choker. You have to have game play to help you get accustomed to the game.

You got hit it right on the head, Nothing is better then game play.

 

[Trepanated]

The best practice is game play. Period.
I never said that practicing out of games was bad but, it isn't as benificial as playing skrimages and other things. You can work out your strengths and weaknesses through game play so you know how you play in a game.

This is not only wrong, it is very easy to prove that it's wrong.

If the best practice is game play and nothing else was as good as that, then there would be no reason for any coach of any team at any level to do anything in their team practices except run scrimmages. Why would they? Sure, drills might not be bad, but if scrimmaging was always the best thing to do, then why waste precious practice time doing anything else?

But of course, no coaches at any level do that. NHL teams run drills. AHL teams run drills. Junior teams run drills. Youth teams run drills. Why oh why is every single hockey coach on earth wasting time with them if they "aren't as beneficial as scrimmages"?

The answer is that they are. You need both. You don't get enough shots or enough time with the puck on your stick in game situations to really improve, if that's all you spend your time doing. If you literally never did anything but scrimmage or play real games from the time you started playing hockey, you'd never develop a good shot or good stick-handling ability or good skating.

Scrimmaging and actual gameplay is extremely important. Anyone who has played hockey will tell you that it's one thing to be able to shoot well in a drill, and a completely different matter to get a good shot off in a game situation. Same for all the other fundamental hockey skills. You also need plenty of scrimmaging to develop hockey sense.

Drills can't take the place of scrimmaging, but scrimmaging can't take the place of drills.

 

[Brandinho]

This is not only wrong, it is very easy to prove that it's wrong.

If the best practice is game play and nothing else was as good as that, then there would be no reason for any coach of any team at any level to do anything in their team practices except run scrimmages. Why would they? Sure, drills might not be bad, but if scrimmaging was always the best thing to do, then why waste precious practice time doing anything else?

But of course, no coaches at any level do that. NHL teams run drills. AHL teams run drills. Junior teams run drills. Youth teams run drills. Why oh why is every single hockey coach on earth wasting time with them if they "aren't as beneficial as scrimmages"?

The answer is that they are. You need both. You don't get enough shots or enough time with the puck on your stick in game situations to really improve, if that's all you spend your time doing. If you literally never did anything but scrimmage or play real games from the time you started playing hockey, you'd never develop a good shot or good stick-handling ability or good skating.

Scrimmaging and actual gameplay is extremely important. Anyone who has played hockey will tell you that it's one thing to be able to shoot well in a drill, and a completely different matter to get a good shot off in a game situation. Same for all the other fundamental hockey skills. You also need plenty of scrimmaging to develop hockey sense.

Drills can't take the place of scrimmaging, but scrimmaging can't take the place of drills.

Bingo.

The way I look at it is: once you become proficient with drills, all of the sublte motions and actions that you need to string together to make plays will become second nature and then you'll truly be able to reach your potential in actual games. Without consistent and extensive non-game training, you'll never be able to dominate when the time comes. Period.